In this month’s instalment of Matthes Answers, led by PulpMX’s Steve Matthes, get his take on the current AMA silly season, who’s going where and potential surprise entries for the fast-approaching Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. If you want to send him a question, simply get in touch via the @motoonline socials and we’ll pass on the most timely questions each month.

Image: Octopi Media.

Christian Craig and Rockstar Husky… tell us more and would it be a good fit for him?

I know in talking to Christian he told me he was going to go for a ‘factory’ 450 ride and that despite having the ability to race the 250 class again, it was time for him to move up. Which I agree with, but I have to admit that I was skeptical of his ability to find that factory ride with an OEM. I was thinking that the new entries next year in Triumph and Beta might be a good landing spot for him, but when I ran that by him earlier he said he doesn’t want to be a guy to develop a bike, which I also get. Enter the Husqvarna ride to be teammates with Malcolm Stewart next year on the 450 bike indoors and out… I like it, it’s a good fit, he’s a popular dude and capable of running inside the top five in SX and MX, so it all makes sense. The Husky guys are getting a rider that’s somehow just now in his later years is putting it all together, which is great. They’re getting Craig stock as it’s peaking or near peaking, he’ll be working with Aldon Baker as well down in Clermont and so that’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Does he take another step forward like a lot of Baker newbies do? Shit, if he does that maybe my top-five ceiling should be raised to a win? Looks like the also-popular Dean Wilson will be out over there after a few years. Dean-O’s certainly had his share of injuries the last few years that have held him back and I would bet he might retire if he can’t get a ride with someone that has good equipment, but we’ll see how his outdoors goes.

With the first 250SX Showdown of the year coming up, what can we expect to play out in Atlanta?

Yeah, I’m excited for this! THE JETT versus ‘The Craig’ should be must-see TV for us in the sport, but here’s the thing, these things rarely play out with the top guys on each coast duking it out. Also, Craig’s got a nice points lead he needs to think about as well. The addition to this race on a speedway track also makes it exciting, right? I’m thinking it’ll be a good one, but I can see Craig just taking it easy out there and protecting what he’s got. If the win is there, he’ll take it, but he can let The Jett take off and who really cares – he’s just got to worry about Hunter Lawrence, really. I will say this, based on past experience of these races, the winner will be someone other than Jett Lawrence or Christian Craig. How’s that for a hot take?

Image: Supplied.

What’s the deal with this PulpMX Privateer Race we’ve heard about for Denver? You’re really getting your own race!?

Yeah, I can’t believe it either! But the guys at Feld have said that yes, I can have my own Pulpmx LCQ Challenge in Denver on Friday afternoon. I’m keeping track of the points accumulated in the 450SX LCQs and the top 17 in points, plus some wildcards get to line up for a six minutes plus one-lap race. All the money raised in the raffle goes to the riders, it should be awesome and I’m stoked. Go to www.pulpmx.com to buy tickets! It should be great to watch, we’ll get some video of it out there as well afterwards, so I’m looking forward to seeing the carnage and it’s awesome they’ve given me my own race. Kind of unbelievable, really.

How did Cooper Webb end up at the Baker’s Factory and is it the answer he’s looking for?

Also in the department of things we didn’t think we’d ever see happen… Both parties were not very stoked with one another by the end of the year and it seemed that Coop wanted some more freedom for his training and riding. He hired Michael Byrne, moved to the 83 Compound and then Supercross 2022 happened, the results weren’t there for Webb (you can debate on whether it was the all-new bike or the switch to the new program) and KTM basically told Webb that he needed to ditch his new program and get back to the old program. He’s also in talks for a new contract, so I’m sure that played a role into his decision to head back there. And KTM looks like geniuses for making Webb make this move because he immediately got better results, but as we know, has yet to get a win. A rather shocking turn of events for everyone I think and we’ll see how it goes from here, although Webb is a bit banged up from getting landed on by Chase Sexton a couple of weeks ago. He’s got five races left to get a win and to not have one in his title defence would make one of the worst ones in the history of the sport.

Do you think we see Jeffrey Herlings and/or Tony Cairoli here for Pro Motocross?

Herlings, I’m not sure. I know Lewis Phillips said he thinks it’s 50/50 on whether Jeffery comes over or not and I guess I’ll go with that. I do think we’ll see Tony Cairoli here for either the season or a few races since he’s always wanted to do that and so I think that happens at some point. I think there’s another bomb to drop here in regards to the 450MX class that I’m trying to nail down and that affects the 84’s decision to come here. Stay tuned, if we have both of those guys over here for the summer it’s going to be amazing.